NCotabato town mayor imposes curfew amid BIFF attacks

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Authorities have been implementing a curfew in 17 of the 57 barangays in Midsayap for three days now to protect the town from attacks by the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“Only the bad elements will roam in these 17 barangays with this curfew in place. The police and military will deal with them promptly,” Midsayap Mayor Romeo Arañia, chairman of the municipal peace and order council (MPOC), told reporters.

The mayor said the 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. daily curfew is being imposed with MPOC's permission.

More than 4,000 villagers were displaced last week when BIFF bandits, led by Abbas Kudanding and a certain “DM,” plundered farming enclaves in Midsayap, held more than 20 people hostage, and beheaded a farmer as they escaped when the military responded to the attack.

The bandits also gunned down a villager for refusing to carry their wounded companions as they fled deep into the swampy border of Midsayap and Datu Piang town in Maguindanao.

The mayor said Army units and policemen assigned in Midsayap have been ordered to detain villagers caught violating the curfew.